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Planning our basement and bathroom renovation

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I have a list in my head of all the renovations and upgrades that I’d like to do to this house. As I’ve said before we must finish our living room first before we begin any new work on the house. The next big job that we’ll tackle will either be the kitchen or the basement.

I’m leaning more toward renovating the basement first since we really don’t use the space down there at all except for practical purposes such as storage, and laundry. Our second bathroom happens to be in the basement as well.

The former home owners seem to have just thrown together this extra bathroom. It has the tiniest shower stall that I’ve ever seen, and there’s no sink in the bathroom. Oh yes, you can wash your hands, but you must leave the bathroom and walk around the corner to a utility sink that is near the washing machine.

I can live with this. I mean it’s just nice to have a second bathroom in the house. However, when we do get around to renovating the basement that bathroom is going to be turned into something really nice.

I’ve been looking at the various showers and bathroom accessories over at www.Taps4Less a site that is quickly becoming known as the best online shower shop.They have an amazing assortment of everything you could possibly need when it comes to renovating or upgrading your bathroom. You can purchase new taps, bathroom accessories, bathroom furniture, cabinets, tubs, shower enclosures and even shower valves at Taps4less.com. If you’re thinking of redoing a bathroom have a look at the site.

If we were going to go all out I think it would be really cool to have a shower that had chrome taps and accessories as well as one of those multihead showers. You know the ones I mean. They have 7 or 8 different shower heads that spray you at different angles. I’m sorry to say that I’ve never tried one of those types of showers, but I’ve heard from others that have that it’s a fantastic showering experience.

Chris has always wanted us to have a hottub. I’ve thought about opening up the back end of our basement so that there would be a door and perhaps stairway that goes out to our backyard. A hottub might fit nicely just under what we now use as a built in storage area under the enclosed back porch. Still, I’m not sure that would work out all that well. Perhaps Chris would settle for a sauna instead?

It would be idea to have a bathtub as well as a shower in the basement. It’s just a bonus to have both I think. So I’ve also spent some time looking at the various shower bath designs. A bathtub with whirlpool jets would be nice.

Well, as you can see I’m still in the dream/planning stage of our basement and bathroom renovation. I guess we’re still in the saving money for the renovation stage as well. Renovations aren’t cheap, but you do save a lot of money when you do things yourself. Well, only if you do them properly.






How much is your home worth?

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Do you ever wonder what the value of your home really is? Do you think it’s increased or decreased over time? If you’re curious you should visit Valuesinfo.com for an online house appraisal to find out how much homes in your area are worth.

If you’re thinking of selling it’s good to know what kind of price you might get for your home.

We were quite lucky when we bought our house five years ago. The people selling this house were moving to a retirement home on a specific date so they wanted to sell their home quickly. It turned out that not only did we manage to get this house at a lower price than many others that were for sale in this area, but it also happened to be the most solidly constructed and in the best condition of the 40 to 50 houses that I’d looked at with my real estate agent over a two month house hunting period.

The value of homes in our area has steadily increased in the last five years. Our house is now worth more than twice the amount we paid for it, perhaps even slightly more since we’ve done a lot of upgrading, renovations and landscaping.

We aren’t planning on selling our home any time soon, but it’s nice to check what the value of homes in our area is every now and then. It certainly makes me feel good knowing we made a sound investment when we purchased our home.

Did you check to see if the prices of homes in your area went up?

Kitchen renovation – Glass accent tiles?

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Our house is a work in progress. I know I’ve mentioned in the past that we are in the process of finishing up our living room. No the tin ceiling tiles are not up yet! Hopefully we’ll get them up within the next month. At that point it won’t take long to finish our living room and dining room. Then I’ll be looking for our next DIY reno project. The kitchen or the basement will likely be our next big project.

Lucky for me, and perhaps you too if you are thinking about renovating your kitchen, I’ve just visited a site called FloorzBuzz.com. This company just launched it’s online store and it’s a great place to purchase glass accents and accent tiles.

If you watch any of the home renovation shows you might realize that glass accent tiles are being used more often. Floorzbuzz sells glass accent and Travertine Tile at a reasonable price to consumers, home renovators, contractors and interior designers.

I haven’t come up with a plan for our kitchen reno yet, but I know that I’m going to take down the ceramic tiles that literally line the walls. They are from the floor to five feet up the wall! It looks ugly! I don’t know what I’ll do with the walls yet, but I can see using glass accent tiles on the walls in the counter area. Glass accent tiles have a nice glow to them. They are very appealing to look at, and since they are impermeable and non-porous they should be easy to clean and maintain.

Our kitchen floor has laminate wood flooring. It’s lighter than the white oak flooring in our dining room which is the next closest room to the kitchen. I’ve often thought of replacing the laminate flooring with tiles. Perhaps the Travertine tiles would look nice.

As you can see I still need to put more thought into exactly what I’ll do to our kitchen when we renovate, but if you’re a little further along in your plans and would like to get a good price on some lovely tiles please do consider visiting floorzbuzz.com. I’m certain you’ll like their selection.

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